World Cup 2010: England need a leader on the pitch to fire them up

For a team which boasts so many leaders and so much experience, so many
players who bear tremendous responsibility for some of Europe’s best clubs
on their shoulders, the most striking thing about England’s dismal draw with
Algeria was the silence.

Uphill task: England manager Fabio Capello has just two days left to rescue England from disasterPhoto: ACTION IMAGES

No player seemed prepared to point a finger at a team-mate, to motivate, cajole or criticise. Wayne Rooney spent much of the game shaking his head or throwing his arms up in the air, yet nobody seemed to demand more of him, to encourage him to improve his own performance.

All teams need players who the rest of the squad have to answer to should their performance not come up to scratch. Roy Keane was exactly that sort of leader, the player you would not want to face in the dressing room after a poor display. There is only so much a manager can do once a game has started, after all.

The players have to take responsibility for themselves and their team-mates, too.

It is something that has been missing from the England team for quite some time. During the qualification process for the World Cup, it was masked by results, but it is when things are not going so well that these troubles come to the fore.

Why it should be is rather more difficult to pinpoint, but perhaps England’s players have too much respect for each other. Perhaps they are too chummy, too aware of each other’s superstar status. Perhaps they feel they cannot criticise such highly-regarded team-mates.

The best relationships, though, are those which are so strong that criticism can be offered, constructively, and no damage done. My approach was always to offer praise to my midfield player when warranted, and to rebuke him when needed. Such a technique never damaged my relationship with anyone.

There are other factors, too, to explain England’s failure so far. Fabio Capello must take some of the responsibility, of course, for his failure to take any risks with his line-up, for the tactical approach employed and for his failure to act effectively and dynamically to win a finely-poised match.

His substitution of Aaron Lennon for Shaun Wright-Phillips astonished me - it is a like-for-like switch, rather than an attempt to alter the tempo of the match - while his decision to bring on Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch proved counter-productive. So many strikers simply clogged up the space on the pitch, making England less dangerous, not more.

It is easy to highlight all of these things after a couple of bad performances, of course, but at the same time there are questions that must be addressed, not least of which is the role of David Beckham on the bench during games.

It seems like a trivial issue, of course, but it is at times like this that questions are asked over those things which, otherwise, would not be an issue. By allowing David to sit on the bench as what appears to be a cheerleader-in-chief, Capello is providing ammunition for his critics.

There is no question that David is performing a valuable service as an ambassador for the country in general and the 2018 bid in particular in South Africa, but to do that he does not need to be alongside the coaching staff at games. Perhaps Capello wants him there, but why he should do so remains a mystery.

The Italian, no doubt, has more important matters to address. Some may seek solace in the parallels with the situation we found ourselves in during the 1998 tournament, but the differences are stark.

Romania were, firstly, a much better side than Algeria or the United States.

They beat us in the last minute, snatching what would have been a very well-deserved point, and our display was not nearly as drab, as uninspired, as the one England offered on Friday.

Only minor changes were required. Capello, on the other hand, will look around and fear he has to start from scratch. England’s fundamentals were so bad that he will not know where to begin.

He has to reconstruct the entire team, and he has just two days to do it. It is time for Fabio to earn his corn.